The Prison in Space

Monday, 31 October 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Nothing at the End of the Lane have announced the release of their new scriptbook, The Prison in Space, a 268-page illustrated softcover book about a 'lost' tale of the Second Doctor from 1968 by Dick Sharples.

"You leave this to me. There’s a special technique required in handling women..." - The Doctor

When the TARDIS lands on the rooftop garden belonging to Chairman Babs, the travellers find themselves on a planet ruled by women. Tried and condemned to serve a sentence on an orbiting space prison, the Doctor and Jamie must use their ingenuity to break free and rescue Zoe, who has been conditioned to unquestioningly accept the rule of Chairman Babs...


Eager to inject some humour into the series, producer Innes Lloyd called upon experienced scriptwriter, Dick Sharples, to come up with a story that would inject a lighter tone into Doctor Who. That adventure was The Prison in Space, originally envisioned to write out the character of Jamie and introduce a new companion called Nik - and it's a story that was just a hair's-breadth away from being made.

Contents include:
» Facsimiles of Dick Sharples' original scene breakdown along with all four of his second draft scripts for The Prison in Space, reproduced directly from the original script pages.
» A look at the history, development and cancellation of The Prison in Space by Richard Bignell.
» Reviews of the story by Doctor Who Magazine's original Time Team, Jonathan Morris and Paul Scoones.
» Copies of the original outline, scene breakdown and revised scene breakdown for the story originally intended to follow The Prison in Space, Brian Hayles' second Ice Warrior story, The Lords of the Red Planet.
» Andrew Pixley looks back at the production of Season Six in Winds of Change and tries to make some sense of what we currently understand happened during Troughton's turbulent final series.
» Artwork by Jason Fletcher, Westley Smith and Adrian Salmon.
The book costs £16.50 and orders can be placed through the new Nothing at the End of the Lane website.

(with thanks to Richard Bignell)





FILTER: - Fan Productions - Books - Classic Series